As a result of extensive engineering efforts, the guidance capabilities of laser guided bombs and other airborne munitions have improved considerably in recent years. Advanced precision guidance munitions now employ multiple onboard guidance systems to increase accuracy, minimize collateral damage, and improve overall munition effectiveness. As one example, the Raytheon Company, currently headquartered in Waltham, Mass., has introduced the Enhanced Paveway™ family of precision guided bombs that incorporate dual mode global position system-enhanced inertial navigation guidance systems (GPS/INS) with laser-guidance packages. While the advantages of precision guided munitions over conventional non-guided or “dumb” munitions have been well demonstrated through field testing and in combat scenarios, it is cost prohibitive and generally impractical to replace the numerous non-guided munitions currently in existence with their precision guided counterparts. A demand has thus developed for a low cost and reliable manner in which to provide a pre-existing non-guided munition with precision guidance capabilities. To satisfy this demand, precision guidance kits (PGKs) have been developed that can be retrofitted to a non-guided munition and provide precision guidance, datalink, telemetry, and aircraft interface functionalities thereto.
In equipping a non-guided munition with a PGK, it is often desirable to mount one or more electrical devices on the munition. For example, it may be desirable to mount an antenna or transmitter to the exterior of an airborne munition, or a battery, processor, or the like to the interior of the airborne munition. It may also be desirable to mount various sensors (e.g., airspeed sensors, altitude sensors, g-force sensors, etc.) to either the exterior and/or the interior of the airborne munition. Conventional techniques for mounting electrical devices to airborne munitions have typically entailed substantial modifications to the munition. Holes are often drilled in the munition casing to enable the attachment of specialized hardware. Wires or cables utilized to interconnect electrical components are typically taped onto the munition skin or routed through specialized conduits. Such modifications are time consuming, costly, and may require technical inspection or weapon requalification to ensure the satisfaction of quality standards. Although adhesives have been suggested as a more straightforward and less costly means for mounting an antenna or other electrical device to an airborne munition, even the strongest adhesives are generally unable to withstand the significant loading forces, temperature variations, supersonic airflows, vibratory forces, and other harsh conditions experienced during flight of military aircraft.
There thus exists an ongoing need to provide embodiments of a removable mounting device for securely mounting one or more electrical components (e.g., an antenna, a sensor package, etc.) to the exterior and/or interior of an airborne munition or other airborne object. Ideally, such a mounting device would be field installable, all-weather capable, and relatively insensitive to temperature variation; would have a low profile to minimize drag when subjected to high velocity airflow; would be relatively lightweight; would be relatively rugged to withstand extreme loading conditions, high vibratory forces, bird strikes, and soldier handling; would be scalable to munitions of different sizes; would be generally incapable of disengaging from the airborne munition, after installation thereon, to prevent in-flight damage of the aircraft; and would enable the routing of wires, cables, or other electrical connectors between electrical components in a protected and low strain manner. At the same time, it is desirable for such a mounting device to be amenable to low cost manufacture. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent Detailed Description and the appended Claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings and this Background.